Chetomin, targeting HIF-1α/p300 complex, exhibits antitumour activity in multiple myeloma

Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable clonal plasma cell malignancy. The constitutive expression of HIF-1 alpha in MM suggests that inhibition of HIF-1a-mediated transcription represents an interesting target in MM. Methods: As p300 is a crucial co-activator of hypoxia-inducible transcription, disrupting the complex HIF-1 alpha/p300 to target HIF activity appears to be an attractive strategy. Results: We reported that chetomin, an inhibitor of HIF-1 alpha/p300 interaction, exhibits antitumour activity in human myeloma cell lines and primary MM cells from patients. Conclusions: Our data suggest that chetomin may be of clinical value in MM and especially for patients characterised by a high EP300/HIF-1 alpha expression and a poor prognosis.